Jeito Capital consolidates its support in CatalYm with a renewed
participation in a $150 million financing
Jeito Capital consolidates its
support in CatalYm
with a renewed participation in a $150 million
financing
- This new financing will support
broad late-stage clinical development program for visugromab,
CatalYm’s lead product candidate in cancer immunotherapy.
- After a first investment as
co-lead investor in CatalYm’s €50 million series C financing
(November 2022), Jeito’s new participation in this oversubscribed
round, alongside new international biopharma investors, confirms
CatalYm’s strong progress and potential.
Paris, France, July 16, 2024 –
Jeito Capital (“Jeito”), a global leading independent private
equity fund dedicated to biopharma, announces its
participation in a $150 million Series D financing of its portfolio
company CatalYm, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
developing novel immunotherapies to fight cancer. In November 2022,
Jeito co-led CatalYm’s €50 million ($49 million) Series C round,
and has since provided continuous support to the Company in line
with its unique investment strategy.
Jeito participated in this new oversubscribed
round alongside new lead investors, Canaan Partners and Bioqube
Ventures, joined by Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund, Omega Funds,
Gilde Healthcare Partners and other existing investors Brandon
Capital Partners, Novartis Venture Fund and Vesalius Biocapital
III.
The proceeds will fund the expansion of the
company’s late-stage clinical development of visugromab to earlier
line of therapy to confirm visugromab as a new class of cancer
immunotherapy. Visugromab is a humanized monoclonal antibody
engineered to neutralize the tumor-produced Growth Differentiation
Factor-15 (GDF-15). The drug candidate has already
demonstrated outstanding anti-tumor activity in combination with
checkpoint inhibitor treatment. At the American Society of Clinical
Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2024 in Chicago, CatalYm reported
impressive follow-up results from its ongoing “GDFATHER” Phase 1/2a
trial, demonstrating that treatment with visugromab combined with
anti-PD-1 antibody nivolumab achieves compelling, deep and durable
anti-tumoral activity, including several complete responses in
patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), urothelial cancer
(UC) or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
The new participation in CatalYm’s series D
round perfectly illustrates Jeito’s refinancing strategy aimed at
continuously supporting portfolio companies with both a significant
deployment of capital released upon milestone and a wide range of
expertise provided by its collective team.
Dr. Rafaèle Tordjman, MD, PhD, Founder
and CEO of Jeito Capital, said: “Since our first
investment, we were convinced that CatalYm was developing a
promising new therapy approach to treat cancer for the benefit of
severely ill patients with no satisfying therapeutic solution. The
recent and very impressive data reported by CatalYm makes us even
more committed to renew our support for its talented team. This
refinancing within our portfolio also demonstrates Jeito’s
unique and differentiated investment model that selects, invests
and accelerates the development of high-quality and cutting-edge
companies in severe diseases that contributes to the
emergence of breakthrough innovations addressing strong unmet
needs. We look forward to continuing our work with Phil L’Huillier
and the team.”
Dr Phil L’Huillier, Managing Director
and Chief Executing Officer at CatalYm,
added:
“This substantial raise and strong syndicate recognize our
achievements as a company and emphasize the excellent results of
visugromab and our broad Phase 2b clinical program. We continue to
demonstrate visugromab’s potential to induce cancer remission depth
and durability across multiple solid tumor indications emphasizing
the substantial role visugromab could play in a novel anti-cancer
therapy regimen. We are building significant momentum for CatalYm’s
development strategy and look forward to the support of these
high-profile new and existing international investors, who share
our vision of breaking immunosuppressive barriers to improve
therapeutic outcomes.”
About Jeito Capital
Jeito Capital is a global leading private equity fund with a
patient benefit driven approach that finances and accelerates the
development and growth of ground-breaking medical innovation. Jeito
empowers and supports managers through its expert, integrated,
multi-talented team and through the investment of significant
capital to ensure the growth of companies, building market leaders
in their respective therapeutic areas with accelerated patients’
access globally, especially in Europe and the United States. Jeito
Capital has €534 million under management and a rapidly growing
portfolio of investments. Jeito Capital is based in Europe and the
United States with two offices in Paris and New York.
@Jeito_lifeLinkedInFor more information, please visit
www.jeito.life, or follow @Jeito_life on Twitter or LinkedIn.
About CatalYm
CatalYm has identified GDF-15 as a key cancer therapy resistance
mechanism and is developing it as safe and efficacious immune
therapy for solid tumors. GDF-15, an immunosuppressant important
for feto-maternal tolerance, is hijacked by cancer cells to evade
immune system attack. Visugromab, CatalYm’s lead antibody, has
demonstrated durable anti-tumor efficacy with long-lasting
objective responses in relapsed and refractory metastatic solid
tumor patients in combination with anti-PD-1 treatment. CatalYm is
now advancing to Phase 2b studies to confirm visugromab as a new
class of cancer immunotherapy in a broad range of anti-cancer
regimens.
For further information please
contact:
Jeito Capital
Rafaèle Tordjman, Founder & CEO
Jessica Fadel, EA
Tel : +33 6 33 44 25 47
Maior
Stéphanie Elbaz
Tel: +33646050807
Jeito Capital announces the
acquisition by Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK)
of its portfolio company EyeBio for a
potential value of $3 billion
This acquisition reflects the significant
clinical progress achieved with Restoret™, EyeBio’s novel
late-phase candidate for diabetic macular edema, as well as a
preclinical pipeline targeting retinal diseases -
Restoret anticipated to enter pivotal
study for diabetic macular edema
in the second half of 2024
- The acquisition by Merck &
Co (NYSE: MRK), a global biopharmaceutical company, will
bring EyeBio additional expertise and commercial capabilities to
pursue further clinical development steps for the future market
launch of its next generation therapy
- EyeBio represents Jeito’s
second successful exit in Q2 2024 validating further Jeito’s unique
and differentiated investment model of selecting high-quality and
innovative assets that meets the strong Pharma demand and delivers
value for patients and investors
Paris, France, May 29, 2024 –
Jeito Capital (“Jeito”), a global leading independent private
equity fund dedicated to biopharma, is pleased to announce
that its portfolio company EyeBiotech Limited (EyeBio), a privately
held clinical-stage ophthalmology biotechnology company working to
deliver a new generation of therapies for sight-threatening eye
diseases, and Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside of
the United States and Canada, have entered into a definitive
agreement under which, Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK), through a
subsidiary, will acquire EyeBio.
Under the terms of the agreement, Merck & Co
(NYSE: MRK), through a subsidiary, will acquire all outstanding
shares of Eyebio for up to $3 billion, including an upfront payment
of $1.3 billion in cash and a further potential $1.7 billion in
developmental, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.
The closing of the proposed transaction will be
subject to certain conditions, including the expiration of the
waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements
Act and other customary conditions. The transaction is expected to
close in the third quarter of 2024.
EyeBio is developing a pipeline of clinical and
preclinical stage candidates for the prevention and treatment of
vision loss associated with retinal vascular leakage, a known risk
factor for retinal disease.
Jeito first invested in EyeBio in February 2022,
just one year after its creation, as co-lead investor of a $65
million series A funding. In November 2023, Jeito participated
again in EyeBio’s $65 million extension of its series A financing,
in line with Jeito’s refinancing strategy to support portfolio
companies with a significant deployment of capital at every value
milestone reached. These financing rounds were made alongside other
major investors in the life sciences industry: SV Health Investors,
Samsara BioCapital, MRL Ventures, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Omega
Funds and Vertex Ventures HC.
As a leading investor, Jeito fruitfully
collaborated with EyeBio’s outstanding management team and has been
a driving force in the strategic development of the company that
led to faster development timelines.
With the steady strategic, operational and financial support of
Jeito, EyeBio’s talented and experienced management team, highly
recognised for their strong track record of developing
ground-breaking ophthalmology therapies, has been able to design
and execute an ambitious development plan, establishing in
fast timeline the Proof-of-concept of Restoret in two indications:
diabetic macular edema (DME) and neovascular age-related macular
degeneration (nvAMD).
In June 2023, EyeBio launched Phase 1b/2a
AMARONE (Anti-permeability Mechanism and Age-Related Ocular
Neovascularization Evaluation) study, its first clinical trial of
its lead asset Restoret, a Wnt agonist, in two retinal diseases
with first positive results reported in February 2024, as patients
treated with Restoret experienced visual, anatomic, and safety
positive outcomes. Restoret is anticipated to advance into a
pivotal Phase 2b/3 trial for the treatment of patients with (DME)
in the second half of 2024.
EyeBio’s acquisition for up to $3 billion, which
comes one week after the acquisition of another portfolio company
(HI-Bio™ by Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) in autoimmune
diseases for up to $1.8 billion1) demonstrates Jeito’s
unique and differentiated investment model. Jeito selectively
invests in high-quality and cutting-edge assets in severe diseases
that meet the strong Pharma demand for breakthrough innovations and
brings its integrated and extensive range of expertise provided by
its multitalented team to companies in order to accelerate
innovation and deliver value.
Dr. Rafaèle Tordjman, MD, PhD, Founder
and CEO of Jeito Capital, said: “Since our first
investment in EyeBio, we have been very impressed by the talent of
the team and the high-quality of their research. Working alongside
the management and supporting EyeBio at each step of its value
milestones achieved, reflects perfectly our ambition to transform
most promising biopharma into future global market leaders. Through
this new successful exit in another new therapeutic area with high
unmet needs, Jeito demonstrates how its unique investment strategy
and collective expertise bring value to the company, the patients
and the investors. We wish to the whole EyeBio team continued
success with the support of Merck & Co, that will contribute to
accelerate the development of its breakthrough innovations for the
patients.”
Andreas Wallnoefer, Partner at Jeito
Capital and EyeBio board said: “Congratulations to the
EyeBio teams for their tremendous progress over the past two years.
The EyeBio team is highly experienced, and this was essential for
their success. Tony Adamis, CSO and I had already previously worked
together and we were involved in the successful development of
Vabysmo® for patients with retinal disease. It has been tremendous
to collaborate again, leveraging Jeito's collective expertise and
steady financial support to accelerate breakthrough therapies.
EyeBio's novel medicines in clinical development give hope to the
many patients suffering from sight-threatening eye disease. This
acquisition is a major new step that we believe will lead to
further successes.”
Dr. Guyer, Co-Founder, President, and
Chief Executive Officer of EyeBio concluded: “The
EyeBio team has successfully assembled a pipeline of novel
candidates with the promise to provide new treatment options for
patients with retinal disease. As a subsidiary of Merck, Eyebio
will be well positioned to tap into the resources and
infrastructure needed to support the clinical, regulatory and
commercial development of these candidates and help bring them to
patients worldwide.”
About Jeito Capital
Jeito Capital is a global leading private equity fund with a
patient benefit driven approach that finances and accelerates the
development and growth of ground-breaking medical innovation. Jeito
empowers and supports managers through its expert, integrated,
multi-talented team and through the investment of significant
capital to ensure the growth of companies, building market leaders
in their respective therapeutic areas with accelerated patients’
access globally, especially in Europe and the United States. Jeito
Capital has €534 million under management and a rapidly growing
portfolio of investments. Jeito Capital is based in Europe and the
United States with two offices in Paris and New York.
@Jeito_lifeLinkedInFor more information, please visit
www.jeito.life, or follow @Jeito_life on Twitter or LinkedIn.
For further information please
contact:
Jeito Capital
Rafaèle Tordjman, Founder & CEO
Jessica Fadel, EA
Tel : +33 6 33 44 25 47
Maior
Stéphanie Elbaz
Tel: +33646050807
ICR Consilium
Mary-Jane Elliott / Davide Salvi / Kris Lam
Jeito@consilium-comms.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700
1
https://www.jeito.life/en/jeito-capital-announces-acquisition-of-hi-bio-by-biogen-for-up-to-usd-1-8-billion/
